The Holy Wars of Modern Fascism

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which now governs Iran, is led by bellicose fanatics who dream of jihad, not in the sense of a personal struggle against evil, but rather in the sense of conquest. They are likely to fail in their dreams, but they can do a great deal of harm in the failing. But they are not much different from

The Global Trade War Is Here

So, the Iranian government, which is the consolidated result of the most radical elements of Iran, is now apparently planning on tolling all traffic through the Persian Gulf. I expect them to try to strangle the Arab states of the Gulf, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, which they regard as heretics. So long freedom of navigation.

Crunch Time for Renewable Energy Deployment

Trump and Netanyahu’s ill-considered war on Iran has brought us to a situation where 20% of the world’s oil supply is bottled up in the Persian Gulf. If the war continues–and none of the participants show signs of backing down–the price of crude oil is expected to double over time. Other raw materials are bottled up in the Gulf as well, fertilizer, and helium, important for chip manufacture.

Global Brain Sclerosis and the Conscience of the World

Over on Bluesky @henrythedog.bsky.social comments:

One thing I haven't seen enough people talk about is Iran's infrastructure was already at the edge of falling apart, Tehran already has a serious water shortage problem, bombing and the disruption of government services and control could push it over the edge unleashing a massive humanitarian crisis.

This is unconscionable. Even the worst administrations of my life would not have risked such a thing, and leads to the following reflection:

This disastrous administration is showing us that the United States was the conscience of the world, is no longer, and so far no other country is stepping up. It was also the biggest charitable organization in the world and the keeper of the peace. With the predominance of fascists in the United States, it is as if the brain of the world has had a stroke, and part of it is gone. Considering that multiple Western nations have fascist parties, maybe it's correct to say that the brain of the world has a vascular disorder, leading to multiple TIAs in addition to a major stroke.

“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savour, from where shall it be salted?”

The Choice of Publisher: X, Substack, and All

The problem of staying on X is that one becomes part of the network and, even if you are not yourself a white supremacist or Nazi, people who follow you are recruited onto a site where they will propagandized. It’s been observed that the propaganda is effective:

The Coup: Gray Thoughts on a Gray Day

• It is a huge failure of US democracy that there was no preparation for this coup; we have known it was in the offing for 25 years.

Late Reflections on the Banning of Will Stancil from Minneapolis Resistance Signal Groups

Since I seem to be having a subpost discussion of secret-keeping in political movements, yes, sometimes it is necessary, but it tends to take over, and make people suspicious of anyone not in the in-group. All the stuff that is a staple of spy novels (and court romances) applies. There are risks of infiltration, subversion, … and betrayal. All the nasty dynamics of in-group politics can operate.